1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an air sweep mechanism disposed in an air discharge opening of an air conditioning system to sweep the discharged air across both the horizontal and vertical planes.
2. Description of the Background Art
Air conditioning systems are typically provided with discharge openings from which conditioned air may be distributed to a desired area. The discharge openings are commonly supplied with a mechanism which includes louvers for controlling the direction of the airflow emanating therefrom. The louvers may be used to improve the air distribution performance of these systems. For example, to provide improved air distribution performance it has become common practice to employ sweeping mechanisms which include a driving device for moving the louvers back and forth to sweep the conditioned air from top to bottom or side to side. It should be noted, however, that these mechanisms typically include a complex linkage between the louvers and the driving device.
The louvers are also used to control the "throw" of the conditioned air. Controlling the throw of the conditioned air refers to the ability to control the depth distribution of the conditioned air. An increase in the throw corresponds to an increase in the depth of the air distribution into the desired area. To provide an increase in the conditioned air's throw, some sweeping mechanisms periodically adjust the louvers to a non-parallel position to pinch the air that flows between the louvers. This periodic pinching increases the air speed, thereby increasing the throw of the airflow. Such an apparatus is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,978 issued on Apr. 5, 1994 to the assignee of the present invention. While this apparatus provides up-and-down air distribution and periodic thrusting of the air, there are certain features of the design which are undesirable. For example, it does not provide side-to-side sweeping of the conditioned air, and the linkage mechanism between the louvers and the driving device is relatively complex.